Maiden singer writes horror film

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has co-written a horror film, which is to be unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Supernatural thriller Chemical Wedding will then be released in British cinemas in the summer.

The film stars Simon Callow as Professor Haddo, the reincarnation of occultist Aleister Crowley, once described as Britain's most evil man.

Dickinson is currently on the road with the band on a world tour.

The film is directed by Julian Doyle, who co-wrote the script with Dickinson.

Doyle directed the video for the band's 1988 single Can I Play with Madness.

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Dickinson, a trained pilot, is due to fly invited guests to Cannes on the band's own Boeing 757 jet for the premiere on 17 May.

Iron Maiden are currently on a world tour

The band are also due to release a compilation album, Somewhere Back in Time, featuring tracks from their first decade, between 1980-89.

The album will be provided as a free download in May - but it will expire after three listens.

Fans will then be offered the chance to buy the album as a permanent DRM-free download.

"We wanted to give the kids of today a fair chance of hearing the music as we would have first heard and experienced it in our day when checking it out in a record shop," the band's manager Rod Smallwood said.

The group are about to start a US tour, before heading over to play European dates in the summer, including their first show at London's Twickenham Stadium.

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